Here is my proposed character:
Silas Vane
Race: Human (Adaptable → one Free Novice Edge)
Attributes (5 pts)
Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills (12 pts)
Shooting (Agility) d8 – 3 pts, Riding (Agility) d8 – 3 pts, Fighting (Agility) d6 – 2 pts, Stealth (Agility) d6 – free + 1 pt, Notice (Smarts) d6 – free + 1 pt, Persuasion (Spirit) d6 – free + 1 pt, Survival (Smarts) d4 – 1 pt
Free core skills: Athletics (Agility) d4, Common Knowledge (Smarts) d4
Hindrances (4 points)
Wanted (Major): Listed as a Union deserter after a black-ops dispatch mission went bad in '64. The warrant is 20 years old and still active.
Outsider (Minor): Raised under canvas, never owned land, never voted, never belonged. –2 to Persuasion with "respectable" townsfolk who smell the sawdust on him.
Quirk (Minor): Before any risky decision, he performs a small circus trick—flips a coin across his knuckles, balances a knife on a fingertip, or spins his pistol. Folks think he's showing off. He's buying time to think.
2 pts → Quick (Edge) — Discard and redraw any initiative card of 5 or lower.
2 pts → Luck (Edge) — Gains +1 Benny per session.
Free Edge
Steady Hands — Ignore the Unstable Platform penalty when shooting from horseback or moving vehicles. Represents his years as a circus trick rider and Union dispatch rider.
Languages (Smarts d6 → 3 additional at d4)
English (native), French d4, German d4, Cheyenne d4
Background
Silas was born in a wagon outside Cincinnati in 1845. Didn't see a house with a proper foundation until he was twelve. The circus was his school, his church, and his family. By fifteen, he could stand on a galloping horse's back and split a playing card edge-on at twenty paces. By seventeen, he could ride through woods at full gallop that would break a cavalryman's neck.
When the War came, a Union colonel saw him perform in Ohio and made him an offer he couldn't refuse: carry dispatches through Confederate lines, or see his troupe arrested for "vagrancy." Silas rode for the Army for two years. Carried messages through Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas that no regular courier could've survived. Never got caught. Never got thanked.
In '64, his handler was killed by bushwhackers and the dispatches vanished. The Army needed a scapegoat. Silas Vane was officially listed as a deserter. The warrant went out. He's been running ever since.
He drifted through Buffalo Bill's show, the Great Western Circus, and a dozen mud-show outfits too small to have names. Never stayed more than a season. A man with an active military warrant learns to keep moving, keep his head down, and never get too friendly with the locals.
Now it's July of 1884. The Northern Pacific is laying track through Custer County, and word is they're hiring guards who can ride and shoot. Silas rode into Redemption because a man can't run forever, and because twenty years is a long time to be guilty of something he didn't do.
Derived Stats: Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5, Charisma 0
Gear: Colt Single Action Army (.45), cut-down Spencer Carbine, bowie knife, performer's duster (grey with faded red lining), lucky 1859 Indian Head penny, ~$40, horse "Spook" (coal-black Morgan gelding).